The Damned: Part 1~ Innocence

Chapter 6

TORTUGA OCTOBER 1675

They partied well into the night.

Flying Dutchman wasn't sure how much rum she consumed. She only knew it was a lot.

Being the young, innocent ship she was she knew nothing about the effects of alcohol on a ship's body.

Eagerly, she consumed any bottle in sight.

"Drink up me hearties yo ho!" She sang.

"Now you're thinkin' like a pirate, lass!" Carolina chortled, downing her own bottle and smashing it against the dock.

An outbreak of feminine swearing was heard from the pair of strumpets sitting there.

Carolina merely shrugged it off and took out another bottle.

Flying Dutchman downed the last few drops of her own bottle. "You have another one?" She asked.

"Thought you'd never ask." Carolina replied, handing her the one she was going to open.

The sloop then pulled out a second, fresh bottle.

"Where do you hide those?" Flying Dutchman asked.

"Below decks. They're stored as cargo. Perfect place for them if you ask me." She grinned.

Flying Dutchman nodded. "Any chance I could load my own hold up?" She asked.

"Not unless you've got some booty to share." Carolina replied.

"Well next time I'm out, I'll see what I can find." Flying Dutchman replied.

"Just don't let Britannia know. And for goodness sakes stay away from British shipping." Carolina growled.

"As if I'd dare cross that line. I won't harm the Dutch either. But the French and Spanish better watch themselves." Flying Dutchman grinned.

"Now you're talking!" Carolina laughed. "Let me know when you find some and I'll bring you me rum. Do we have an accord?"

"Agreed." Flying Dutchman said. "Agreed." Carolina said.

They toasted on it. Carolina took a long swig.

Flying Dutchman copied her, deliberately drawing out her own drink a bit longer. Carolina noticed.

"Oh, you don't want to do that lass." She said.

"Try me." Flying Dutchman said cockily, taking another swig.

"Ooh!" said a few ships nearby.

A mischievous light entered Carolina's eyes. "Challenge accepted." She said.

The pair downed one bottle after another, the whole time getting drunker and drunker and as they did, their tongues loosened.

"I remember a time, when I was a little thing, fresh out of the shipyards." Carolina began. "I was a naughty thing then and I am so now. The first thing I did was steel a whole man's purse."

"Really?" Flying Dutchman laughed.

"Really." Carolina agreed.

"But when the man found out, of course he was furious and of course he was going to the authorities. Next thing I know, Sir John Beckett showed up at my dock.

He said 'Carolina, I've heard from a good friend of mine that he lost his purse recently. You wouldn't happen to know where it is would you.'

I replied 'You already know the answer to that my good John because if you didn't you wouldn't be here.'